{"id":24282,"date":"2023-05-19T12:07:52","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T16:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=24282"},"modified":"2023-05-19T12:09:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T16:09:47","slug":"episode-820-last-apple-tree-standing-in-full-blossom-in-spite-of-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=24282","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 820 LAST APPLE TREE STANDING…IN FULL BLOSSOM IN SPITE OF AGE"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
EPISODE  820     LAST APPLE TREE STANDING\u2026IN FULL BLOSSOM IN SPITE OF AGE<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
May 19, 2023<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
My grandfather, Edward Freeman, was a landscape  gardener born in Herefordshire, England.  Trained on the grounds of Windsor Castle according<\/div>\n
to one source although he never told me that  Eventually he became the head gardener at the 1500 acre Eywood Estate near Kington, Herefordshire..<\/div>\n
That\u2019s apple country where the great cider apple called Red Streak once thrived and perhaps descendants are in blossom there to this day.  There\u2019s<\/div>\n
nothing quite like a cold glass of Bulmer\u2019s cider on a hot day.   Although granddad preferred Rhubarb wine himself.  Made from his own<\/div>\n
rhubarb patch that tried alongside the apple orchard.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Granddad left England as the 20th century dawned.  Perhaps tricked by Canadian advertising brochures that promised free land and freedom<\/div>\n
from the class system.  Tricked is the word because Krugerdorf in the cold clay belt of Northern Ontario was anything but Valhalla.  A rough and ready <\/div>\n
place where forest fires swept across the boreal forest and piles of immigrant cut slash with the regularity of the rising of the sun,   Edward, Louisa and the<\/div>\n
kids,, Frank and Elsie (my mom) were burned out. Lost much. Saved the old pump organ and some pictures. Fled south to a derelict 25 acre farm<\/div>\n
in Erin Township, Wellington County, Ontario. And stayed there unto death.  We still have that farm although grander farms have disappeared all<\/div>\n
across North America.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The best crop on that farm is rocks.  Always has been since an ice sheet two kilometres thick dumped a monstrous pile of unsorted rubble there ten<\/div>\n
thousand or so years ago.   But it was here that the Freeman\u2019s took up permanent residence.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
And here is where the last vestige of Granddad\u2019s gardening skills still lives.   One lone apple tree where once his orchard stood.  What kind? I have<\/div>\n
no idea except my dad said the apples were Red Astrachans.  Unsure of that because dad accused every apple tree as being a Red Astrashan.<\/div>\n
Perhaps he liked the name as much as I like he name Red Streak (see Herefordshire Pomona).  Decades ago I was so enamoured of that<\/div>\n
cider apple that we purchased a page from the old Herefordshire Pomona that was framed and hanging in a \u2018book breakers\u2019 shop in Hay of Wye.<\/div>\n
The picture hangs in our living room and visitors must wonder why we have an apple hanging there.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So that is a bit of apple history.  A tiny bit for the study of apples fills volumes .   I have not time to go into that<\/div>\n
in depth today.   Today you have a chance to gaze at Granddad\u2019s last apple tree.   It is not a pretty picture.  Apple trees age as humans<\/div>\n
do\u2026as most living things do\u2026.as burning balls called suns do.  Apple trees show their age and once they get to look crochetty they are cut down<\/div>\n
and their wood in blocks provided a last bit of joy in the fireplace from of winter time combustion.  Will that be the final resting<\/div>\n
place of granddad\u2019s apple tree?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Maybe.  But not this year.  This year it is in full blossom. Few blossoms last year.  But this year, 2023, a glorious bunch of blossoms<\/div>\n
on the few live branches.  Hopefully our son Andrew\u2019s bees have found those blossoms and will provide a jar of honey when<\/div>\n
Andrew steasl some honey from the bees next fall.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I think I will call that honey \u201cRed Astrachan RedStreak\u201d, granddad would like that.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE  820     LAST APPLE TREE STANDING\u2026IN FULL BLOSSOM IN SPITE OF AGE alan skeoch May 19, 2023 My grandfather, Edward Freeman, was a landscape  gardener born in Herefordshire, England.  Trained on the grounds of Windsor Castle according to one source although he never told me that  Eventually he became the head gardener at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}